History of Galgo, Part 9: TV and Film Cars

By Fedor Eliseev and Fernando Rey

Photos by Fernando Rey

After discussing Galgo buses, we move on to the last part in this long series on Galgo toy cars from Argentina.

For many collectors, British Corgi Toys was an iconic manufacturer of their favorite TV series and film models. Yes, indeed, there were many vehicles connected with popular series like Batman, The Saint, Kojak, The Professionals, The Avengers, Jeeves and Wooster and many others. Certainly, other companies from Europe and USA also offered different models connected with TV shows. However, few people know that during the 1970- 80s, the company from the other side of Earth, from Argentina, was one of the most significant producers of TV series scale models. And no doubt, it left its own mark on history.

At the end of the 70s, Galgo has been expanding its range becoming one of the greatest toy and model manufacturers in South America. At the same time, Argentinian TV was showing many American series which were very popular. Luis Biasatti at Galgo saw the opportunity. We assume that during his trip to Europe, Biasatti learnt about Corgi’s success in this direction, and he decided to use this experience in Argentina. He did not have much money to create original castings for every model, so the best decision was to adopt current tools to make new TV series scale copies.

Strictly speaking, Galgo models never exactly represented the actual TV cars. Most of these miniatures were current models that used decals and colors that were associated with popular TV shows. In some cases Galgo made original castings, but they were very simple. But the special boxes and blister packs designed by Jorge Garcia were superb, and thanks to this fact, they looked very effective on the shelves of the toy stores.

For their first character cars, Galgo adopted a Porsche 935 and equipped it with figures in special colors. These miniatures were sold in special blister packs. The series included Smurfs, Topo Gigio, Pink Panther and Disney characters. By the way, Topo Gigio was also sold in a 1:66 boat adopted from the standard casting.

Then Biasatti and his team created tractor trailers for BJ and the Bear. For these models, Galgo used their current trucks. BJ and the Bear trailers were available in 1:87 and 1:66 scale pulled by the FIAT 619 N or 1:43 Scania T 142. The company also made a special set consisting of the 1:66 FIAT 619 N equipped with yellow plastic windows with no interior and Sheriff Lobo‘s police car, a 1:66 Ferrari, which was a common casting for Galgo (but not for an American police car)! Of course, the FIAT and Scania trucks would have also never shown up in an American action comedy show like this one. BJ and the Bear was shown on US TV from 1979 to 1981.

For another iconic TV series, The A Team (Brigada A), Biasatti had a suitable mold – the GMC Van, a 1971 Vandura. The basic model was painted in black color with red stripes and got special wheels. Though it became a bestseller because the A Team TV series was was very popularity in South America during the 1980s. Based on The A Team popularity, Galgo also made the Ford F 100 with TV series decals with an added machine gun and bad guy shooter. The company also produced a 1:43 Scania T 142 tractor trailer and some other trucks carrying A Team logos. As a rule the models were packed into blisters where the main heroes of this show were illustrated.

Biasatti also made some original casting for TV or movie cars. For instance, special castings were used for Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider. Galgo created the original molds for these miniatures, but to be honest, these were very simple toy cars and did not really look like a 1969 Dodge Challenger or the KITT Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. The Dukes of Hazzard had black windows and no interior. You know what car it is because of the f red color, Confederate flag on the roof, and number 01 on the sides. It’s not easy to determine a scale, approximately 1:55 or less.

Galgo offering the Dukes of Hazzard Dodge in various blister packs which had some differences in design. Also a special set included the Dodge and a Police car. In fact, the Police car had the same casting as the Dukes’ vehicle, only the color and decals were different.

Both the Dukes of Hazzard and Miami Vice cars came with a special key. When you insert this key, a spring is pressed and at the same time the flexible plastic of the key contacts, and by pressing the sides of it they release the spring from inside the car, ejecting the car forward. Nowadays, it is not easy to find these models complete by keys.

The car for Knight Rider looked much better than the one for Dukes of Hazzard and its shape really is not bad. As for Miami Vice, Galgo used their basic 1:66 Ferrari casting.

Not only iconic TV show cars were designed and made by Biasatti, his team also made an interesting motorcycle and rider for CHiPs (California Highway Patrol). The bike had no chrome parts and its plastic details can disappoint collectors but the rider looks amazing. Galgo did not forget his boots and painted them black.

Being a manufacturer of planes and helicopters, Galgo used this opportunity for making Airwolf helicopters. It was a set of 2 helicopters – the main Airwolf, a modified Bell 222A and a standard helicopter which also was used in the TV show.

In the late 1980s Galgo turned to the series ALF and Transformers and made different sets. AlF was very popular all over the world, and Biassati’s team created a miniature of his spaceship. In fact the TV audience never saw the ALF spaceship, so this is a wonderful opportunity to imagine what Galgo’s designers could do! They also made a generic vehicle for ALF to drive on land. Hopefully, Galgo’s marketing ideas for ALF paid off for them! By the way, the ALF spaceship used the same mold as the V science fiction TV mini-series, which also was introduced by Galgo at that time.

Looking at TV models made by the Argentinian company, the collector has a wonderful opportunity to remember this part of 80s culture. For many kids growing up in the 1980s, these TV shows bring back good memories. Maybe after reading our article, you will be encouraged to watch these old, iconic 80s series again.

Conclusions Covering All Nine Parts

Galgo was an enormous company having a huge range of models of different types. It is impossible to describe all of them, even in this series of long articles. Without any doubt, Galgo should have its own history book like Dinky Toys by Mike and Sue Richardson or Corgi Toys by Marcel van Cleemput. We hope our series of articles will encourage the collectors to write more about it in the future.

In this final chapter, we also want to try to tell the reader about the Galgo miniatures that we haven’t mentioned about in previous articles.

Making street and racing cars in 1:43 scale, Galgo also had a little 1:66 range consisting of Ferrari, Lancia Stratos and sports prototypes. Ferrari was introduced in the second half of the 70s, though first models have early packaging consisting of small acrylic boxes like Formula 1 models of the 70s.

TC 2000 cars were also available as sets, consisting of 2 models, track and additional decals. Some cars and trucks were offered in sets with road signs. As additional equipment, Galgo produced plastic service stations.

And of course a special Galgo Strada— a highway for miniature cars – was available.

Don’t forget that Galgo has been also a manufacturer of helicopters and planes (see catalog page below) and 1/25 Eurostil range of plastic models. Certainly there were also many other types of toys in their production programme.

In the mid 1980s, the Argentinian economy began to transform. Imports increased greatly, and local manufacturers reduced production. Galgo models were rather simple in comparison to European ones, but the Peckareq brothers did not want to invest more money in new tooling to compete with foreign brands beginning to be imported into Argentina.

Customers also wanted to buy imported goods, because they had not been available previously. Those are the main reasons Galgo stopped manufacturing most products in the end of the 80s. Biasatti retired in 1990, and two years later the company ceased to exist. In the end, their last production facilities made video cassettes.

During the 2000s, some people acquired the rights for the name Galgo and offered repackaged Chinese models in 1:43, or 1:32, called Galgo Max. In any case, Galgo played a large role in the model car industry of South America, and we are happy to have told its history.

Epilogue

This is the last HobbyDB Blog article in Galgo’s story. This year we have also written about Buby, Goldvarg white metal, and Cobre. What’s next? It depends on the reader’s reaction. There are plans to continue a series of articles about diecast manufacturers and craftsmen of Argentina, if someone is interested.